In the context of the violence crisis that has transformed public life in Sinaloa since 2024, journalist and writer Diego Enrique Osorno offered an analysis that redefines the understanding of the conflict. During the presentation of his book, En la montaña (In the Mountains), the author explained why the current confrontation between organized crime factions represents an unprecedented historical turning point for the state.
Osorno, author of works such as El cártel de Sinaloa (The Sinaloa Cartel), La guerra de los Zetas (The War of the Zetas), and Slim, argued that the current crisis has unprecedented characteristics compared to past episodes of violence. The absence of mediating figures and the generational clash within the organizations are, according to his analysis, factors that explain the nature of this new conflict.
When questioned about the differences between the current conflict and clashes between organized crime groups in other eras, Osorno pointed out that this “war” directly involves the two most prominent families of the cartel in the last two decades, something unprecedented.
“Well, I think the fundamental difference is that now the most relevant and structured families within the Sinaloa cartel of the last twenty years are facing off, right?… What happened in 2008, for example, was a faction that wasn’t necessarily one of the main ones, and I think that’s very different.”
The trigger, he added, was an unprecedented act of internal aggression, referring to the alleged kidnapping of Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada by the Los Chapitos faction, a crime now confessed to by Joaquín Guzmán López before a U.S. court. In contrast, he recalled that the 2008 crisis was triggered by a formal arrest by the government, still within the framework of institutional “performance.”
“Now, the aggression was also more direct, more radical, with the kidnapping of one of the family’s leaders and his extradition to the United States. This time, there wasn’t even that kind of performance. It was one member of one family kidnapping the patriarch of another. So, this injury is much more direct, and I believe it’s an irreconcilable break.”
According to Osorno, this implies that the relative stability that existed while these two families remained allies is now “a normality that will not return.”
Osorno asserts that the extent and violence that have characterized the conflict that erupted in September 2024 are also explained by an internal power shift.
“The other factor is the generational clash. The figure of the patriarch… well, this figure has disappeared. There won’t be any figure like Mayo Zambada was in his time or Chapo Guzmán in another.”
Although he hasn’t been able to report firsthand on what has happened in Culiacán in recent months, Osorno agrees with local journalists about the consequences being felt in daily life. The power vacuum, he points out, could be exploited for economic or political interests, but it could also give rise to a more organized social reaction.
“A threshold is opening… Since there are no longer any local strongmen like Cuén, like Mayo, the governor is irrelevant, no one has any leadership anymore. What’s marginal is that civil society is becoming more vigilant, and events like these [the 10+1 Journalism Festival] encourage that discussion about what’s happening right now in Culiacán and what Culiacán should be like in the future.”
Source: revistaespejo
